School & Society: Ch. 11 Study Questions

1. This chapter contrasts the aims of vocational and liberal education. To what degree are these aims significantly different, and to what degree are they similar? Explain and defend your point of view.

The aims of vocational education are narrow, practical, and defined; the aims of liberal education are broad and full of possibility. Vocational education aims to prepare the individual towards a particular end; liberal education aims to prepare the individual for life in general, and to give him the ability and confidence to choose this end for himself. It is not that they are aiming at separate targets but rather that liberal education is aiming at a larger one. Liberal education casts a wide net, knowing that the vocational question will be answered somewhere within this larger circle.

2. This chapter appears to take the position that (a) all students are capable of benefiting from an academic, as opposed to a vocational education, and (b) an academic curriculum is the most appropriate one for all students. To what degree does the chapter adequately support this position, and to what degree to you agree with it? Justify your position.

The text's pursuit of objectivity is somewhat admirable, but it hinders the author's ability to defend a specific, subjective position. Therefore, I think the material presented in this chapter would be inadequate for anyone who was inclined to disagree with the position. A stronger case could be made.

I agree with these points with a few reservations. I would hold that all students may be capable of benefiting from an academic education, by which clarification I wish to imply that this should not be determined by educational establishment, but rather by the students themselves. As to the second point, I agree that an academic curriculum is fundamentally appropriate for all, but it need not be the only curriculum used. Other curriculum, especially curriculum that is more kinetic, should not be ostracized.

3. It was remarked early in the chapter, in response to the purposes of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act Amendments of 1990, that "critics will continue to observe that educational goals framed in terms of the needs of the workplace, instead of in terms of the full intellectual development of students, are not educational goals at all, but are instead economic goals in which students are but means to ends that do not serve their interests well." To what degree do you find that the historical record supports this criticism? Support your view.

This is noble rhetoric, to be sure, but it must be evaluated in light of the economic problems presented by publicly subsidized education. No economy has the luxury of placing all of it's children in ivory-tower schools devoted ad nauseum to the "full intellectual development of students." This is simply impractical. It is only reasonable for a society that has taken upon itself the financial burden and responsibility for education to be interested in what it is getting for its money and effort. This is another instance showing that the privatization of education would be a wise move.

The critics raise a valid point, but it is not one that the present educational institution - caught in the whirlpool of socialism - can answer.

4. Evaluate John Duffy's argument in favor of mixed-ability group instruction at the secondary level, and explain the degree to which his argument is relevant to critics' concern about vocational education.

There is substantial and legitimate value in learning in a peer context, but this structure has been pursued to unhealthy excess. Learning properly takes place in a community context, which includes, but is not limited to, peer groups. To make education a strictly peer activity is a mistake.

The critics seem to oppose the very idea of a "track." Duffy argues that a "track" may be useful, provided it is voluntarily chosen by, not imposed on, the student.

5. Duffy focuses not on the contrast between vocational education and liberal education, but instead on the idea of a "critical pedagogy." What does he mean by that term, and how similar or dissimilar is it to the aims and methods of liberal and vocational education? Support your view.

By "critical pedagogy," Duffy means an educational method that respects the student, expects the student to excel, emphasizes dialogue, and seeks to stimulate the student's native innate to learn. This approach can be used in different settings: liberal education, vocational education, or even, (as Duffy seems to advocate,) liberal vocational education.

6. Critics have argued that liberal education is an outmoded ideal because it is grounded in an educational approach that is historically racist, elitist, and gender-biased. To what degree does Duffy's approach appear to be consistent with liberal education ideals and yet responsive to these criticisms? Defend your positions.

This seems to be an attempt to brand liberal ideology as guilty by association. If we accept this logic, it seems we must also discard the Constitution, which was conceived amidst the same historical climate of "bias." Great truths articulated by great thinkers and borne out through the annals of history should not be discarded because they step on our sociologically sensitive toes. They can be adapted to modern social sensibilities with little effort, at least less effort that is expended in reinventing the wheel.

7. Grubb identifies seven important purposes to be served by the new integration of vocational and liberal education. To what degree are these an improvement on the traditional goals of vocational programs, and to what degree is it likely that these goals will be successfully achieved in the new integration? Support your assessment.

These purposes are an improvement over traditional goals of vocational programs in that they shift the end responsibility for the student's proper placement and subsequent success from the establishment to the student. Instead of the institution accepting responsibility for directing students, it instead accepts responsibility for equipping students to direct themselves. Both intellectual and vocational programs are made available to all, and imposed on none.

The success or failure of this integration depends on how effectively teachers can reshape their educational ideology to fit Duffy's "critical pedagogy." To achieve these goals will require more effort from all.